


bait and switch

by girljustdied



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-18
Updated: 2009-08-18
Packaged: 2019-10-04 20:16:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17311163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girljustdied/pseuds/girljustdied
Summary: logan and veronica struggle to survive without their significant others.





	bait and switch

**Author's Note:**

> pre-series.  
> prompt was "what if lilly set up a secret rendezvous for veronica with logan to ease her own guilt and make veronica feel better about duncan dumping her?"

He knows what she’s trying to do right away, the very first time it happens: him and Veronica, forced to hang out together. Lilly had agreed to see a movie with him, but it’s Veronica that shows up instead, hair all glossy and straight.

“Where’s the other blonde?” he asks petulantly. Already knows the answer, shoves his hands far down into his pockets.

“Lilly?” she furrows her brow slightly at his unease. “She didn’t tell you? Celeste grounded her. Again. She left phone numbers with—” her voice runs off there.

“What?” he prods, knows it must have to do with the new guy Lilly’s screwing. Should that be guys plural, now?

Her eyes flit to his and then away—classic Veronica avoidance tactic. Obvious, sure, but also immovable, more like Lilly Kane than the girl in pastels in front of him would maybe ever admit.

“Look, I know she’s seeing someone else. You don’t have to hide it.”

Her eyes bug out a bit before she shakes her head vehemently.

“She’s not—I swear,” but Logan thinks at least part of her insistence is rooted in what she wants to be true. She does the whole obligatory “you know you’re going to get back together” spiel where she’s really mostly talking about Duncan—and it’s sad to watch her mean it so sincerely. Borders on pathetic, even—especially when Lilly’s so obviously trying to bait him with her virginal best friend.

He goes through with seeing the movie, but can’t focus on anything but Veronica’s elbows resting squarely on her thighs, her back ramrod straight, her eyes locked in a determined staring match with the screen in front of them. Maybe she’s smarter than he thought. But then she looks over suddenly with a small, reassuring smile.

Maybe not.

-

The next time, Veronica’s not even in on it. Finds him at the bar in Dick’s pool house and asks if he knows where Lilly is with slight irritation, eyes darting over his shoulder constantly to stare at Duncan with his arm slung around Shelly Pomeroy.

“You check the gates of hell?” is all Logan replies, slings back a shot of tequila. Thinks twice, “Wait—why are you even asking me? I haven’t even spoken to her in days.”

The longest week of his life.

Her brow furrows in genuine confusion, “She said she was coming with you.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” he’s suddenly angry, really angry at her. “She’s tired of you moping over Duncan. She’s ditching you whenever she can. Do the math.” Holds out a new tequila shot, “Want one?”

She adjusts her purse firmly and looks him straight in the eye.

“You’re just drunk and miserable and you want everyone else to be, too. I feel sorry for you,” she whips around to leave, but then turns back. “And you know what, Logan? Lilly’s tired of you—that’s for sure.”

The crowd around them snickers nervously and Logan wants to tell her that it’s all part of the same equation, all part of what’s leading to something she can’t even see yet—but doesn’t.

“Tell her ‘hi!’ for me,” is what comes out of his mouth instead. “Just like a good little lapdog.”

Everyone laughs for real, Veronica doesn’t look back, and Duncan cuffs him in the shoulder too hard to really be playful.

-

He figures the third time just might be the charm—whenever it happens. His back is covered in stinging, open welts and Logan just wants to suffer more. Suffer in a shiny, different, entirely new way.

Veronica’s suffering, too. He’d know it even if the girl didn’t wear her heart on her sleeve. Hears the tail ends of conversations in the halls sometimes: Veronica begging to know what’s going on with Duncan, tears shining in her eyes. And Lilly, holding her cards close to the chest, like always.

Lilly texts, “horny want to cum over?” He hates the thrill that moves up his spine at the thought. It doesn’t mean they’re getting back together. It doesn’t mean anything, really.

Texts back, “aunt flo,” code for Aaron and blood and rage and fear and for her to get the hell over there and take care of him for once.

She doesn’t reply, but Veronica shows up at his window thirty minutes later.

“I snuck in through that gap by the rosebushes. Lilly said you might need my help with something,” her voice calm and even and businesslike when he pulls open the glass with a grimace. She looks like she’s doing her best to not hold a grudge about what he said at Dick’s last party. “What’s wrong?”

He doesn’t even think about sparing her the burden. Tugs her up through the window and grunts aloud in pain.

“Hello to you, too,” is all he can muster.

“Wow,” she babbles a bit nervously when he doesn’t let go of her hand to lead her over into his connecting bathroom. “Something’s managed to render you almost speechless. I never thought I’d see the day.”

He plops a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a small, yellow towel in her hands in response.

“Uh, what—” she starts until he tugs his shirt up over his head and her mouth does this thing where it just kind of stays open. Her eyes flick down to his chest for a second, then up, and Logan’s proud as hell when he manages to give her a smirk.

“Look, I don’t know what you—” the confused stream of words stop when he turns around and sits on the toilet lid with his back facing her. “What you—Logan?” She touches the skin not marred on one shoulder. “What the hell happened to you? Did Lilly—”

Logan can’t help it; he laughs loud and hard.

“Wow, Ronnie,” he gets out between sputters, looks over his shoulder into her wide, startled eyes. “The first explanation that comes to your mind is some kinky—”

“Stop,” she interrupts, hands clutching at the items he placed there. “This is serious. You need to be serious. Who did this to you? I can call my dad.”

“Look, this isn’t my first time at the rodeo, okay? Can you please just help me or leave?” bites his tongue when he has the urge to finish by asking her to tell Lilly to send Duncan next time she doesn’t want to tend to his wounds.

They stare at one another for a long time until she looks down at her hands, twists open the bottle slowly.

“Do you have something other than your washcloth?” her voice is so quiet he wants to press closer to her to hear it. “A rag, or at least something darker?”

“I don’t care about the stupid towel. I’m sure we have like a million of them.”

She blows cool air onto the cuts to counteract the sting of the peroxide, and for the first time ever he seriously wonders what her lips would feel like.

-

Things are different after that night. Veronica looks at him different—looks at him a lot more, too. He feels her stare from the table over with her girlfriends at lunch, in the English class they share, across the hallway near his locker. It’s a little disconcerting, mostly because both of the Kanes always act like it’s nothing, pretend everything is exactly the same as usual the next day.

Logan likes it that way, can’t stand the pity in her eyes or the way she and Lilly whisper to one another.

Lilly’s waiting by his car at the end of the day.

“Care to give a girl a ride home?” she smiles smugly and tilts her head.

“You have a car,” he mutters half-heartedly, unlocks his door and yanks it open.

“Oh, I told Duncan to take it for a spin,” she waves away reason so easily, it’s enchanting. “We need to talk.”

“Now that you want to talk, it’s magically time, huh?”

“Duh, Logan,” is all she has to say to that, hops up past him through the door and wiggles over to the passenger side, all short skirt and pale skin. Frowns at him when he doesn’t hop in after her. “What?”

“What do you want, Lil’?” his voice is way more anguished than he wants it to be.

“I want to know what the hell happened with Veronica last night,” there’s something he can’t recognize in her voice, and it somehow gives him hope and infuriates him at the same time. “She isn’t spilling. Said I should talk to you.”

“That doesn’t sound like her,” he enjoys the feeling of those words in his mouth.

Veronica, after all, is the reason they’re broken up to begin with. Technically. Couldn’t keep her mouth shut about one stupid, drunken, angry kiss with a girl that most certainly wasn’t Lilly.

“No,” she licks her lips and smiles mirthlessly. “It doesn’t.”

-

Lilly actually shows up to the next 09er party. Veronica looks like Lilly dressed her, jean skirt barely covering her ass and a red tank top, too much lipstick. Their arms are slung together and he watches Lilly make the rounds, tugging the other blonde behind her while she flirts mercilessly.

Veronica’s eyes meet Logan’s and she shrugs, smile a tight line. As soon as Lilly starts sloppily making out with Casey, Veronica heads over to the corner he’s sulking in with a bottle of good old Jack.

“She’s just trying to get a rise out of you,” her voice is gentle. “Because she still cares.”

What a concept. He offers her the bottle, and she looks at it for a long time before grabbing it from his hands and taking a quick swig.

“Ugh!” she exclaims. “That’s terrible.”

“Want me to go find you some champagne?” the words just come right out of his mouth. “A pretty pink dress?”

She frowns then, eyes scanning the room for the other half of what had been their perfect little family. Duncan’s nowhere to be seen. Neither is Shelly Pomeroy.

“No thanks,” is all she replies, takes a longer swig and then hands the bottle back to him.

In no time at all, she’s curled up into him on the loveseat and he’s got an arm around her shoulders.

“Do you ever think about it?” she slurs out of the blue in the middle of a conversation about how maybe he’ll teach her how to surf that summer.

“What?”

“Us,” her voice is kidding in that way that really means she’s sincere underneath. “You and me. Because—”

“Because Lilly said something to you?” he feels sick, scared shitless very suddenly.

“This has nothing to do with Lilly,” she lies poorly, obviously over-intoxicated. “Or Duncan. Not really.”

Logan seriously doubts that. But he reaches forward slowly anyway, skates his knuckles over her cheek before opening his hand and cupping her jaw. Before he even knows what he’s doing, his thumb is touching her mouth firmly, rubbing the lipstick off.

“You don’t need all that make-up,” he breathes softly into her ear when he catches sight of Lilly a few feet behind Veronica staring at them intently, lips subtly curled in pleasure.

Veronica tilts her head just so, and Logan knows if he kisses her right then that she would let him. He’s just not sure what it would mean anymore.

-

“So, Beaver told me something interesting about last night,” Duncan mutters out of the blue while they play Grand Theft Auto at the Kane estate.

Logan punches the keys with added gusto before replying, “Oh yeah?”

“He said that you were all over Veronica as soon as Shelly and I went upstairs.”

Logan just loves how Duncan doesn’t even see how ridiculous the words coming out of his mouth are. It’s totally priceless. Duncan’s the one that broke up with her; Duncan’s the one that’s already found someone else.

“Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask—how far’d you get with her?” Logan avoids the question. “She seems the kind of clingy that’ll just beg you for it.”

“Veronica—” Duncan’s character starts to smash up a car with a baseball bat.

“I wasn’t talking about Ronnie, dumb ass,” he interrupts immediately. “Man, you act like you two are still together or something.”

“Exes are off limits,” Duncan’s grasping at straws. “Isn’t that the bro code?”

“Well, the ‘bro code’ would also force you to tell me why she’s your suddenly ‘ex’ in the first place,” and Duncan shakes his head in response. Now that Logan thinks about it, that would kind of obviously be part of the chick code, not theirs. “Look, man, you know our little group was bound to get incestuous eventually.”

“So you admit it,” his friend abruptly pauses the game and turns toward him, eyes wide and fierce. “You and Veronica—”

“I’m not admitting anything, dude,” he backpedals, doesn’t want to totally ruin the friendship. Just test the boundaries. “Nothing’s happened with her. I want Lilly back, that would kind of be counterproductive.”

“You swear?” he replies seriously.

“God, fine. Yeah,” Logan stands and tugs on his jacket. “Don’t be such a girl.”

Duncan asks where he’s going, and Logan lies through his teeth. He’s sure as hell not going to pick up some dinner; he’s got a cook at home for that. He’s going to Mexico will some friends that aren’t such fucking killjoys.

When he opens Duncan’s door, Logan’s immediately face to face with Lilly, who jumps back in surprise.

“Wow, eavesdropping,” he laughs. “Where’s your glass? Does this door even have a keyhole?”

“Whatever, Logan,” she practically purrs. “And you’re never going to get me back; I’ve found someone that makes you look like a little boy. Screw Veronica all you want.”

He doesn’t want to believe her.

“Lilly—” Duncan exclaims from behind him.

“You know it’s for the best, Donut,” Lilly cranes her head around Logan to stare her brother in the eye. “Just let it be.”

Duncan’s eyes move slowly to Logan’s, a strange, grudging, almost-permission in them.

Well. That’s a new development.

-

The thing about screwing Veronica is—well, there are a lot of things about it. But Logan’s not a thinker. Logan’s a doer. Or so they say. He’s finally ready to roll with the punches, see what happens.

She looks the happiest she has in a long time, cleaning cars with Lilly, throwing suds around and shaking her hips to the music. They talk like conspirators, leaning over the hood towards one another.

He watches for a long time before reaching into his backseat to grab a notebook out of his backpack. He’d cut the whole Mexico excursion short with a drunken desire to confront Lilly, figure stuff out, but sober he sees things a bit more clearly.

This time isn’t like the million others. She’s not charmed by his apologies, his gifts, his begging, his suffering. She wants something different this time, something bigger. Logan just needs it to be over. Isn’t even really sure what he’s going to write until the words are already there staring up at him from the page:

“Lilly,

I think I’m ready to give you what you want. I really hope that we can both be happy someday.

Logan”

He rips out the sheet and folds it over and over, thumbs making the creases sharp and flat. It sounds like a suicide note. In a way, maybe it kind of is.

-

He sneaks into Veronica’s room through her window and waits for her there. Runs his fingers along the different textures of fabric in her closet until he feels a bit too much like a stalker and stops. Sits down on her bed, and realizes that there’s not really a way to avoid feeling like a total creep.

Texts Veronica, “i kinda just climbed through ur window. r u coming home soon?”

“5 min,” is all she replies.

She’s got her hands on him as soon as she shuts the door behind her. Curls her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck buries her head in his chest, starts sobbing.

“Lilly’s—” she sputters into his chest, tears seeping through the fabric. “Oh god, Lilly.”

“What did she do this time?” he can’t keep the bitterness out, and it only makes her cry harder.

“No, Logan,” she cries, fingers curling into his hair. “Logan.” She looks up at him with wide, pleading eyes. “Stop. She’s—”

She can’t seem to finish the sentence, and Logan feels something heavy and hard building in the pit of his stomach. Tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear in an attempt to calm her down enough to talk.

It works. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and says, “Lilly’s dead, Logan. The Kanes found her … found her murdered. I saw her body. My dad,” her voice trails off as she starts to cry softly again.

Logan knows his lines. Some kind of expression of denial would be most appropriate. Denial or shock or abject grief.

“Are you okay?” is what he asks instead, mouth dry. Those are just words, too. He doesn’t mean them more than he means anything else. But he can tell from a tiny flicker in her expression that they were the right ones to say.

“Did you hear what I said?” she replies slowly, lets go of him but doesn’t step back to make a space between them. “Lilly’s dead, Logan. Your ex-girlfriend. My best friend. Duncan’s sister.”

The words feel hollow. Lilly was a lot more than that. Lilly was a force, a reason for living—the whole reason he’s even standing here with Veronica in the first place.

He takes a step back against the wall to get away from her, but Veronica moves forward, too, eyes boring into his.

“Say something,” her voice is shaking with the effort it takes to try to control it.

“What do you want me to say?” his voice is almost a growl.

“Say that she’ll forgive us,” she murmurs.

It’s a stupid thing to say. Lilly won’t do anything ever again.

“We didn’t do anything—” he insists instead, barely gets out the words before she’s pressing her mouth to his, her hands grasping his neck and their teeth cracking against one another.

She doesn’t taste like Lilly. Her hair is a bit coarser, her body slimmer. He pushes her back so roughly that she stumbles and grabs onto a bedpost to steady herself.

“What the hell, Veronica?” he wants to scream and scream and scream, but actually says the words in a harsh whisper to not alert her parents.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just so—”

“So what?” he interrupts, too impatient to even let her get to the point.

“Would you let me finish my sentence?” the old spunk pops up so suddenly. So much like Lilly.

“Allow me,” he presses a finger to his temple. “So lonely, so sad, so desperate, so angry, so fucked up, so pathetic.”

She doesn’t give him the satisfaction of a rejoinder, crosses her arms and holds herself tightly. He wants to punish her. Punish himself. Moves to crawl back out her window until she grabs his wrist.

“Stop it,” she says like she knows him, knows he’s just making a scene, testing her limits, making her hurt as much as he does. Her voice is soft, “Logan.”

“We were family. You fucked everything up, Veronica,” he throws back at her as he yanks his hand out of her grasp. “You.”

Leaves her shaking and crying in her room. Doesn’t see her again until she’s on the news, standing next to her father, trying to break up yet another one.  



End file.
